reporter: but the stars and stripes would survive the perilous fight at the battle of baltimore inspiring francis scott key to write "the star spangled banner." ♪ o say can you see >> reporter: so the british were the ones who started this all, right? we were under attack essentially? >> we awe ourselves as that. -- we saw ourselves as that. some senators were looking for an excuse to invade canada. they're saying, well, the british seizing american ships, sailors, that gives us a right to declare war. let's go to war and take the british colonies of canada. >> reporter: we invaded canada? our oh, so nice neighbor to the north? how come i didn't learn that in school? i always was taught the war of 1812 is about the "the star spangled banner" and about americans defending ourselves against the british. >> i think one reason we don't study much about the war of 1812 is we did not succeed in taking canada. so no one wants to hear about that. it's sandwiched in between the revolutionary war which had huge figures like george washington. then the civil war which is -- a larger thing. >> reporter: th